Day Labor study 2006.pdf - National Council for Occupational Safety ...

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Table 1: Distribution of Day Laborers and Hiring Sites by RegionRegionDistribution ofWorkersPercentage ofWorkersPercentage ofHiring SitesWest 49,647 42 41Midwest 5,059 4 3Southeast 21,059 18 13South 14,353 12 13East 27,529 23 30Total 117,647 99* 100*Total may differ from 100 percent due to rounding.Source: National Day Labor Survey, 2004.Hiring sites on the East Coast tend to be the largest in the country (Table 2). Onaverage, 40 workers gather at these sites, while 36 workers gather at sites in the Midwest,and 32 workers gather at sites in the Southwest. The largest individual hiring sites arelocated in Langley Park, Md. (peak recorded workforce of 349 job seekers); Chicago(peak recorded workforce of 154 job seekers); Phoenix (peak recorded workforce of 138job seekers); and San Francisco (peak recorded workforce of 133 job seekers). 3 Largesites of this sort tend to have an extensive and shifting geography that often encompassesseveral blocks along the major thoroughfare where workers congregate. The radius mightalso extend several blocks from the epicenter of the hiring site as workers fan out in alldirections in the hope of improving their chances of securing a job opportunity with anemployer.Table 2: Average Number of Job Seekers per Hiring Site, by RegionRegionAverage Number of Job SeekersWest 29Midwest 36Southwest 32South 25East 40Total 32Source: National Day Labor Survey, 2004.3 These figures count only those job seekers present at the hiring site and do not include day laborers whohave left the site to work that day. Other very large hiring sites exist. However, these sites were notincluded in our sample and therefore workforce counts were not taken. Some of these sites, such as one inQueens, New York and another in Palm Beach County, Florida, have numbers of available workers thatexceed those recorded here.5
Most day-labor sites operate year round, even in the East and Midwest wherewinter months bring frigid temperatures. During the spring and summer months, the sizeand number of markets swells as construction industry activity increases and with it, thedemand for informally employed laborers. In addition to the daily fluctuations that aretypical of day labor, some workers cycle through this labor market as they use thecontacts developed with employers to secure longer-term assignments or to identifyemployment opportunities in the formal economy. When these jobs are concluded or if anunemployment spell occurs, workers return to the informal hiring sites to again search foremployment.Fluctuations in the availability of work are endemic to the day-labor market. Theday-labor workforce is an entirely contingent workforce; workers are hired only whenemployers need them and the duration of the employment “contract” (which consists ofnothing more than a verbal agreement) is unsecured and open-ended. In other words, daylaborers are entirely at-will employees and employers are in no way bound to honorpromises of continuing employment, whether from one day to the next or from one hourto the next. In the following section of this report, we discuss the insecurity of day-laboremployment, which explains many of the occupation’s defining characteristics (such asthe low annual earnings of day laborers).The very existence of the day-labor market, and the proliferation of day-laborhiring sites across the United States, is driven by employer demand. Day-labor marketshave formed to supply workers to the construction and landscaping industries, and toprovide help to homeowners/renters with clean-up, moving and gardening projects. Thelength of any given assignment is usually short, about one day. But because such a largenumber of employers turn to informal hiring sites as a source of workers, most daylaborers are able to string together enough assignments to allow them to earn a modestincome.Formal Hiring Sites: Day-Labor Worker CentersIn addition to the hundreds of informal hiring sites that have proliferated acrossthe United States, we identified 63 day-labor worker centers created by communityorganizations, municipal governments, faith-based organizations and other localstakeholders.The creation of day-labor worker centers is a relatively recent phenomenon, withmost having been established since 2000 (Figure 1). Centers typically are located nearinformal day-labor hiring sites, offering both workers and contractors an alternative to theunregulated sites found on street corners and in parking lots. Indeed, location can be acrucial determinant of a center’s success, and these hiring sites frequently are establishedin areas where both workers and employers have ready access. Fifty-seven percent ofcenters are located along busy thoroughfares, 53 percent are located in predominantlyresidential areas and 18 percent are located near home improvement stores where daylaborers often congregate.6
Page 5 and 6: AUTHORSAbel Valenzuela Jr. is assoc
Page 7: day labor provides a chance to rega
Page 12 and 13: Figure 1: Formation of Day Labor Wo
Page 14: Section IIDay-Labor WorkDay laborer
Page 17 and 18: month, median earnings fall to just
Page 19 and 20: compensation premiums), often by si
Page 21 and 22: Table 7: Day Labor Abuses, Selected
Page 23 and 24: Section IVThe Characteristics of Da
Page 25 and 26: Table 7: Day-Labor Worker Character
Page 27 and 28: est job that they can reasonably ho
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Page 31 and 32: Policy RecommendationsDay labor is
Page 33 and 34: AppendixData Collection ProceduresA
Page 35 and 36: Size of Site Frequency %Small Site
Page 37 and 38: elected to visit all known sites ex
Page 39: ReferencesBuchanan, S. 2004. “Day

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